The Princess of Wales held herself to a traditional dress code for the first State Banquet of King Charles III’s reign, wearing the Queen Mary’s Lovers Knot Tiara.
The Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara was commissioned by Queen Mary in 1913 as a replica of the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara, which was a stunning tiara owned by some of her German relatives.
In 1818, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, married Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, and one of her wedding presents was the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara. The famed pearl and diamond tiara stayed in the family line, running down through the Mecklenburg-Strelitz line until it was sold at auction in 1981 to Georg and Marie Gabrielle von Waldburg zu Zeil.
Queen Mary so admired the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara that she had Garrard & Co. replicate it in 1913. It became one of her go-to tiaras, and eventually, it was inherited by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 upon her grandmother’s death.
Queen Elizabeth II wore the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara a few times throughout the early years of her reign. Still, it wasn’t until Diana, Princess of Wales became a member of the Royal Family that it gained popularity. After Diana ceased to be a member of the Royal Family, the tiara went back into the vault until Catherine began wearing it again in 2015.
Catherine paired the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara with a set of diamond and pearl earrings that once belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales, and a four-strand pearl bracelet that belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II as part of a set of Japanese Pearl jewellery.
Catherine wore her highest honours, the Royal Victorian Order sash and star and the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II, upon a bedazzled white Jenny Packham gown.
